حمدة وفسيكرة

by كلثم الغانم, Kaltham Al-Ghanem

تُعرف حمدة بسندريلا الخليج. في يوم من الأيام على مقربة من البحر، ظهرت سمكة سحرية اسمها فسيكرة لتنقذ حمدة المسكينة من متاعبها ولتجمع بين حمدة والأمير الجذاب. تناسب هذه القصة المتوفرة باللفة العربية واللغة الإنجليزية جميع الآباء والمدرسين الذين يبحثون عن أعمال تراثية خليجية للأطفال.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens

Paperback

First published April 11, 2011

Reviews

[Jewel · Rating 4 out of 5]

من اجمل ذكريات الطفولة هي اللحظات التي كنت اقضيها مع أمي -الله يحفظها- وهي تحكي لي القصص.
وهذه كانت احدى تلك القصص، سندريلا ولكن خليجية.
في هذه النسخة الخليجيه حمده هي الفتاه الجميله والطيبة التي تعاملها زوجة والدها بقسوه، و بعد ان تستنجد سمكه بحمده ان تنقذها، تساعدها السمكه بان تقدم لها الطعام و الملابس للذهاب الى بيت الشيخ، و عندما يبحث ابن الشيخ عن صاحبة المدواس (الحذاء) و تخبأها زوجة والدها في التنور، يساعدها الديك بصياحه:
(( كوكو.. عمتي حمده في التنور... عليها الحب منثور))

السمكه في هذه النسخة القطرية هي فسيكره، ولكن في نسخة امي الاماراتيه فهي بياحه:
((بياحه بياحوه... ماغدوني ... ما عشوني))

وطبعا عندما كبرت اكتشفت ان نسخة امي كانت نسخه منقحه لتناسبنا.

يسعدني جداً ان اجد التراث و القصص التراثية تجد اهتمام، ودائما احرص على اقتنائها.

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful and kind, Hamda was the daughter of a humble fisherman in this variant of the Cinderella story from the folklore of the Arabian Gulf. Mistreated by her stepmother, she found an ally in the magical fisaikra fish whose life she had spared, and this piscine friend aided her whenever she was in need. When her stepmother and stepsisters went off to attend a party being thrown by the wife of the Shaikhm, leaving Hamda to sort a pile of wheat from barley, Hamda was aided by the household animals, and then by Fisaikra and her underwater confederates, attending the party after all, dressed in unimaginable finery. When she lost one of her jewel-encrusted slippers while leaving, and this footwear was discovered by the Shaikh's son, Hamda's life was transformed...

Originally published in Arabic as حمدة وفسيكرة, Hamda and Fisaikra is a lovely book, featuring a fascinating variant of a well-known and well-loved tale, and gorgeous artwork. Author Kaltham Al-Ghanem is an academic who teaches at Qatar University, and who is involved in a variety of anthropological investigations. Her retelling here, translated into English by Andy Smart, is engaging, and reminded me strongly of the Iraqi variant of this tale that is retold in Rebecca Hickox's The Golden Sandal: A Middle Eastern Cinderella Story . In both tales, the heroine spares the life of a fish who then becomes her guardian angel, but in this version specific to the Gulf Coast, the fish is a fisaikra, as a twobar seabream/two-banded porgy is known, in the Qatari dialect. The accompanying illustrations from May al-Mannai, who works for the Al Jazeera Children's television channel in Qatar, are lovely, with a deep, vibrant color scheme, and beautiful, stylized figures. This is one I would recommend to all folklore enthusiasts, and to readers interested in global variants of the Cinderella story.

[Hamda Al-Kaabi · Rating 5 out of 5]

حلوه القصه عن سندريلا "قطريه" ا
يدتي الله يحفظها كانت دايما تقول لنا هالقصه
ف كبرت على هالقصه واستانست يوم شفتها انطبعت كقصه مصوره عشان يتناقلونها الاجيال :)

[Michelle (driftingsong) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually received this book several years ago when I lived in Qatar, and only just now got around to reading it. I personally thought it was a really interesting version of Cinderella and loved all the references to Arab culture. I did hate that the reason the mother wanted her son to wed Hamda was her beauty and riches, but also I realize that it was different times and essentially the prince in the Cindrella we all know and love wanted to marry her because of her beauty too.

Also I won't give away any spoilers but with the dowry her step mother really showed she was an insane nutter.

I do like that rather than a fairy godmother, there was a fish she saved granting her wishes.

Overall this is an interesting story (with good illustrations to boot) if you are interested in reading an Arab/Middle Eastern fairy tale.

[Rachel (Sfogs) · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful Cinderella story.
The illustrations in this book are just stunning!!

[Thabya]

that the father well died in the end

[Hamada]

nice

[Maitha · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's great to see books about fables of the Middleast

[شوق المزروعي]

Hamda and Fisaikra

[Eman · Rating 5 out of 5]

cindrilla

[Washy 2003]

hamda will be rech and she will mareed

[Abo Abdo · Rating 5 out of 5]

ithink its very nice :)

[Angeline Carpena · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is just..AWESOME!!

[Mariam999 · Rating 5 out of 5]

i like the story

[Taif]

NN

[Wafaa]

its like cindrella story

[Rahaf]

iipp